The following is a Q&A with Christian Amato, candidate for the state’s 34th Senate District, which encompasses the east Bronx neighborhoods of City Island, Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, Middletown, Country Club, Castle Hill, Parkchester, Clason Point and portions of Morris Park, as well as the southern Westchester communities of Pelham, Pelham Manor and portions of New Rochelle.
Name: Christian Amato
Age: 34
Occupation: Founder of Consense Strategies
Residence:Pelham Parkway
Party affiliation: Democrat
One thing the average voter doesn’t know about you: “I’m a lifelong Bronxite. I also enjoyed a successful career as the founder of the off-broadway theater company, The Theatre Project and as a Broadway producer on Tony-award winning productions.”
Q. What is the biggest single issue facing the district?
A. Infrastructure. This touches so many areas of our lives — extreme floods due to our outdated sewer system damage property and wreak havoc on our roads. Our public transportation needs improvement — many reside in areas inaccessible by public transit, meanwhile we’re seeing the removal of the few bus stops we have and a lack of ADA accessibility on trains. Major improvements to infrastructure will impact every single person in our community.
Q. The Bronx continues to be the leader in unemployment with the highest rate of joblessness of any county in New York state, based on the latest Labor Department data. What can be done to encourage job creation in the borough?
A. And that rate increased even more due to the pandemic, recession, transit accessibility and rising health care costs. Investments in green energy will help create jobs, which helps us stay competitive in the emerging market, along with creating transitional job programs. We need to invest in education to ensure our youth are graduating with the credentials they need to access these jobs, create youth employment programs and more trade schools.
Q. The state Legislature has been reluctant to address its bail reform laws that were enacted in 2020, despite repeated calls from law enforcement, business owners and even some Democrats, most notably Eric Adams. With the perception that New York City has become “soft on crime,” what do you think should be done so that residents of this city feel safe?
A. Our communities feel overlooked, and with economic burdens, feel a lack of investment. Communities feel as though there is not enough presence from police and we need to make sure our residents feel safe, especially to protect the most vulnerable — seniors and children. We need to restore the dignity of being a police officer, and build more faith in the community which also requires creating increased accountability and investing in better training to support our officers.
Q. How would you structure health care in the state; do you support universal health care?
I support coverage for all and The New York Health Act, which would develop an affordable marketplace exclusively for New Yorkers, while lowering costs for those who often pay the most.
Q. The pandemic exposed what has been a looming mental health crisis. What steps would you take to address mental health in this state from a legislative standpoint and does it require additional funding?
A. The pandemic exacerbated mental health due to the effects of strict lockdown regulations and financial hardship. However, it also exposed that more than 250,000 Bronxites are unable to access the internet. This directly impacted our education system as our children were confined to remote learning only accessible with an internet connection on a computer. So when Gov. Hochul’s 2023 budget placed an enormous weight on digital telehealth, that concerned me. That means that telehealth would exclude far too many vulnerable New Yorkers — and that does not even take into account barriers from other elements like language access. To address mental health, we must lower health care costs, including prescription drugs. The health care policies I support would expand coverage which would lead to better outcomes for our mental health. I also believe we need to expand EMS to help better care for mental health calls.
Q. What differentiates you from your opponents and how would you better serve your constituents, if elected?
A. I’ve spent the last decade as a community organizer working to connect our neighborhoods to the resources they need to thrive and lead full lives. As the son of Italian immigrants, I have always been passionate about and connected to the immigrant community. I got my start organizing by connecting immigrants to DACA initiatives. I have been an active member of our community, serving on Community Board 11, where I co-chair the transportation committee. I formed a $3 million partnership with Driscoll foods to address growing food insecurity in the region. When the Bronx was seemingly left behind from Covid recovery, I procured and distributed more than 1 million masks and sanitizers. I also built a statewide coalition to pass legislation to End Medical Debt in New York.
-compiled by the Bronx Times
